Donald Trump is giving Americans exactly what they voted for: Neil Macdonald
2454 Comments
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Trev Tuthill
I'm confused by the comments.
Complaining about the author? ITS AN OPINION PIECE, if you don't agree thats your right.
Complaining about CBC being funded by Govt? Its the CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORP. If you want news from a corporate media site, go read something else, but understand you may be under the influence of a corporate/revenue based narrative.
Complaining about too much Trump news? A lot of the commenters appear to be Trump supporters - isn't that what you want - more stories that fit your agenda?
And please, everyone has to agree there is NO moral equivalency between KKK/Neo Nazis and the people trying to oppose that hateful ideology. I believe this Country fought a war against the same thing?
Geez Louise - people are losing their minds. You have free will and have unalienable rights in this country. Get a life and be nice to everyone
David Raymond Amos
@Trev Tuthill Who are you to judge another's opinion of CBC;s very questionable opinions?
Gilbert Warrens
MacDonald ?...lots of accusations BUT never any prove.
The real violent activists are the left wing Antifa.... everybody knows that.... 55 of them were arrested in Portland last year for destroying public property and physical aggression on people.
As far as hatred goes...it's the news media that is full of hate Not President trump. Trump is accused of belonging to hate groups but that's where it ends...accusations....no proof. He has denied all the accusations as any innocent person would do.
The real violent activists are the left wing Antifa.... everybody knows that.... 55 of them were arrested in Portland last year for destroying public property and physical aggression on people.
As far as hatred goes...it's the news media that is full of hate Not President trump. Trump is accused of belonging to hate groups but that's where it ends...accusations....no proof. He has denied all the accusations as any innocent person would do.
@Gilbert Warrens
The mere fact that all reputable news broadcasters worldwide underline Trump's shocking hypocrisy, self-serve attitude towards his (few) right-wing voters and drawing ire even from his own Republican base, brings Neil's article/analysis above all other news writings in Canada these days.
The mere fact that all reputable news broadcasters worldwide underline Trump's shocking hypocrisy, self-serve attitude towards his (few) right-wing voters and drawing ire even from his own Republican base, brings Neil's article/analysis above all other news writings in Canada these days.
David Raymond Amos
@Jan Böhmermann Methinks you
must be joking Trust that I am far from a fan of Trump or any neo Nazi
supporter of his but CBC needs to learn to report the truth ASAP before
matters get worse.
Glen Acanthus
When we are not being given
an honest presentation of who these leftist protesters are and what
their real objective is, and the left will do everything it can to keep
that hidden. I think the way to bring all this to a screeching halt,
interestingly, is to highlight and expose who the left is, who these
protesters are, who’s buying them, who’s paying them, who’s giving them
their marching orders and highlighting the violence that they engage in.
The left doesn’t want that light shining on them. That would be one way
of ending this. You can tell that right now. They’re getting away free
and clear with the idea that their protesters are clean and pure as the
wind-driven snow and that they are nonviolent, little snowflakes
David Raymond Amos
@Glen Acanthus Trust that the CBC will never give us the low down
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-twitter-charlottesville-1.4250824
Trump defends 'history and culture' of Confederate monuments
2193 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
Oliver Watler
And to think, 35% of Americans still approve of his presidency.
@Dimitri Stantos
"Democrats approval is still below his!"
Really! , just because you said so .
"Democrats approval is still below his!"
Really! , just because you said so .
@fausto j dell'erede If it is not then it certainly should be
Kevin Graves (AKA Jaspersdad)
“I think it wiser not to keep open the sores of war, obliterate the marks of civil strife and the feelings engendered.”
Robert E Lee 1869
Robert E Lee 1869
@Ivan Ivanof Methinks you are correct
Alex Matheson
Has Donald hammered in the last nail. The VP should be practicing his Trump send off speech.
Christian Jane
@Alex Matheson I hope not -
Pence is a "true believer" and much more dangerous than Trump who
doesn't believe in anything but his own superiority.
David Raymond Amos
@Christian Jane I agree
Cyrus Manz
As the LEADER OF THE FREE
WORLD it is President Trump's JOB to defend his own country's heritage
and by extension its historic monuments.
Destroying historical monuments because a small group does not agree with a part of history, is exactly what the ISIS does.
Trump's job is to stop this madness, not hep fan it like President Obama did. (a madness that started under Obama's presidency).
Destroying historical monuments because a small group does not agree with a part of history, is exactly what the ISIS does.
Trump's job is to stop this madness, not hep fan it like President Obama did. (a madness that started under Obama's presidency).
Paul McCulloch
@Cyrus Manz
You do know that the US Presidents don't actually lead the free world right?
You do know that the US Presidents don't actually lead the free world right?
Sally Grayson
@Cyrus Manz
Not my leader
Not my leader
Cyrus Manz
@Paul McCulloch
The free world as it exists today is because of United States victory in the last war and the subsequent Cold War against the USSR. The President is the Commander in Chief of the US army and whether you like it or not, he is by all accounts the "leader of the free world".
The free world as it exists today is because of United States victory in the last war and the subsequent Cold War against the USSR. The President is the Commander in Chief of the US army and whether you like it or not, he is by all accounts the "leader of the free world".
Erin Wilson
@Cyrus Manz
FYI: Don Trump is not the LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD. Maybe in your mind and the minds of a few other deluded americans.
Don Trump may be the president of america, but he is nobody's LEADER. He does not possess any leadership qualities. He has pretty well turned the US into the laughingstock of the world.
It is time for Trump to step down. A failed experiment.
FYI: Don Trump is not the LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD. Maybe in your mind and the minds of a few other deluded americans.
Don Trump may be the president of america, but he is nobody's LEADER. He does not possess any leadership qualities. He has pretty well turned the US into the laughingstock of the world.
It is time for Trump to step down. A failed experiment.
Ron Vollans
@Paul McCulloch
Actually, the US president has been acknowledged as leader of the free world for decades now. This is a recognition that Trump has lost.
Now it's generally considered to be Angela Merkel and sometimes Justin Trudeau. Most people in the free world don't even want Trump in their country.
Actually, the US president has been acknowledged as leader of the free world for decades now. This is a recognition that Trump has lost.
Now it's generally considered to be Angela Merkel and sometimes Justin Trudeau. Most people in the free world don't even want Trump in their country.
David Raymond Amos
@Paul McCulloch Its rather hard to be free when your rights and interests are bought and sold in the markets every day
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/stephen-bannon-white-house-future-1.4252952
Steve Bannon leaves Trump's White House by 'mutual agreement'
3688 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
Stan Cox
Looks like some of the 'swamp' is actually being drained...
The biggest thing blocking the drain however, is the president.
The biggest thing blocking the drain however, is the president.
@Stan Cox As I read your comments I ponder how CBC can pssibly justify blocking any of mine
david mccaig
@Stan Cox
AMERICAS NAZI PAST
Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president
George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.
The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.
Prescott Bush business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz .
The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar« less
AMERICAS NAZI PAST
Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president
George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.
The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.
Prescott Bush business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz .
The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar« less
David Raymond Amos
@david mccaig I suspect that I
know a lot more about the Bush Clan than you do. However for the Public
Record I am the namesake of two fine young men who were killed in WWII
fighting Nazis. David was one of my Father's friends who was killed on
my Mother's birthday ( He was honoured with the Victoria Cross for his
actions) Raymond my Mother's favourite brother was killed 2 weeks before
in Normandy..My Father was the soul survivour out of an aircrew of 9
when his plane crashed in WWII or obviously I could not be typing this
right now.
That said I truly believe the outcome of a World War that was over 7 years before I was born insured the rights of all people to associate and speak their minds within our purportedly profound democracies. Those people include Nazis and Communists and all others whom I have the right to detest and ignore or argue as I deem fit.
I must ask who in CBC thinks they have the right to block my opinions within a website financed by my fellow citizens as long as I keep my manners and obey the rules of this forum?
Hugh MacDonald
"Chief strategist in the White House"....
Not something to brag about or be proud of.
Not something to brag about or be proud of.
Val Stavinski
@Hugh MacDonald I can sense some jealousy on your part Hugh, and no strategy at all ...
David Raymond Amos
@Val Stavinski Me too
Louisa Walker
He should take Donnie with him and turn out the lights on his basement warriors.
Val Stavinski
@Louisa Walker Hey Louisa,
"qui vivra, verra", I like garnished rabbits in white sauce, delicious.
Your so called euphoria will be short lived darling.
David Raymond Amos
@Val Stavinski I prefer rabbit stew sweetened with liberal tears
Dave Jannes (also known as...Mrs. Grundy's....)
As the cheesey Trump cake crumbles, leaving a sticky mess all over the White House floor.
As predicted long ago, Trump's presidency is unfolding as the worst chaotic miasma of prevarications and flip-flopping ever witnessed from one regime.
America,.....my sympathies. Yet, it's time to rectify the yuuuuuge mistake and impeach Trump the Flailer.
As predicted long ago, Trump's presidency is unfolding as the worst chaotic miasma of prevarications and flip-flopping ever witnessed from one regime.
America,.....my sympathies. Yet, it's time to rectify the yuuuuuge mistake and impeach Trump the Flailer.
Roy T. Gilroy
@Dave Jannes (also known as...Mrs. Grundy's....) WordSmithing 101
David Raymond Amos
@Roy T. Gilroy Methinks liberal spin doctors have a way to go before you could get me to agree that they have any talent
Patrick Kennedy
Way too late. You wear this Mr. President.
Val Stavinski
@Patrick Kennedy Donald's tie is ok, long and straight like his two terms in the Oval Office.
David Raymond Amos
@Val Stavinski Methinks you jest
Alain Le Brun
Trump will probably resign by Christmas.
(After declaring victory in clearing the swamp, of course).
(After declaring victory in clearing the swamp, of course).
Paul Squires
@Gia Adams
"Do you think his ego would let him resign? Just curious as to what others here think."
Frankly, no. His world view is only himself. I truly doubt he has ever cared for another human, even his family. Without empathy he is incapable of understanding or accepting any action for others and his ego will demand he be acknowledged as a 'winner'.
Which makes him a very dangerous man.
"Do you think his ego would let him resign? Just curious as to what others here think."
Frankly, no. His world view is only himself. I truly doubt he has ever cared for another human, even his family. Without empathy he is incapable of understanding or accepting any action for others and his ego will demand he be acknowledged as a 'winner'.
Which makes him a very dangerous man.
David Raymond Amos
@Paul Squires You are fooling yourself if you think any politician even understands the meaning of the word empathy
Robert Nease
Well, good riddance. Never should have come within 500 yards of the place to begin with.
Rick Blaine
@Robert Nease
You're so kind. Are you a liberal?
You're so kind. Are you a liberal?
David Raymond Amos
@Rick Blaine FYI The NDP and the Greens don't like Bannon either. In fact neither do I and I always run as a Independent
Brent Grywinski
Great news! That's one down,
one to go! I read an article by someone who wrote a book about Trump and
he says he thinks Trump will resign soon. He is not getting his way in
Washington and he is totally frustrated.
Ron Vollans
@wilson abernathy
I believe that. Harper united the opposition against him. It was the largest voter turnout in decades. I think Trump will do the same thing.
I believe that. Harper united the opposition against him. It was the largest voter turnout in decades. I think Trump will do the same thing.
David Raymond Amos
@Ron Vollans Methinks the
largest voter turnout in decades was the result of third place Trudeau
"The Younger" promising to legalize dope and getting rid of first past
the post elections
John Brown
Wow! Bannon's gone? Get outta town...nobody saw that coming.
Paul Squires
@Casey Leigh
"Just because he is out of the White House, does not mean he is out of the picture."
Wise words!.
"Just because he is out of the White House, does not mean he is out of the picture."
Wise words!.
David Raymond Amos
@Paul Squires I agree
Jim Graham
Bannon described Trump in an
interview last week as one of 2 "fools" yelling at each other across the
ocean .. the other being Kim Jong un.
And he got a photo on the front page of Time ... both incidents were intolerable to Trump who wants the world to think he's the one in charge. meanwhile, world and GOP leaders are learning to ignore Donnie and let him tweet his bile while they try to work around him.
Trump has now isolated himself while the world walks away from him ... business leaders and even Mar-a-lago regulars cancelling events and associations with the Trump enterprise.
Karma
And he got a photo on the front page of Time ... both incidents were intolerable to Trump who wants the world to think he's the one in charge. meanwhile, world and GOP leaders are learning to ignore Donnie and let him tweet his bile while they try to work around him.
Trump has now isolated himself while the world walks away from him ... business leaders and even Mar-a-lago regulars cancelling events and associations with the Trump enterprise.
Karma
Val Stavinski
@Jim Graham Who's in charge of you Jimmy? Have you already got your marching orders from CBC for tomorrow?
Content disabled.
David Raymond Amos
@Val Stavinski I would put in
a call to a few CBC lawyers to find out for ya but Hubby Lacroix and
Minister Joly have ordered them to ignore me and allow the Crown counsel
I have been arguing in Federal Court since the last election to try to
handle me
David Raymond Amos
@Val Stavinski Why is it that
I was not surprised to see CBC block my last response to you? Small
wonder why I blogged and tweeted about it N'esy Pas?
Donald Trump is giving Americans exactly what they voted for: Neil Macdonald
Surely some of them are looking in the mirror, reflecting on the part they played in unleashing this hatred
By Neil Macdonald, for CBC News Posted: Aug 17, 2017 5:00 AM ET
Each new lie, each putrid outburst, every carefully coded
racist or sexist utterance, has to somehow be squared with the title he
holds. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press)
There's a weary sameness now to the coverage of President
Donald Trump, not that it's the fault of the people doing the covering.
How many times can you ask and answer the same questions? Is he a hypocrite? Does he lie?
He is, and he does. Hypocrisy oozes from him like pus from a septic infection.
And what were once silly mendacities about crowd sizes or being secretly bugged by Barack Obama have now become uglier, more seditious things, reminiscent of his racist lie about the Obama family's secret conspiracy to conceal the fact that their son was born abroad — somewhere, you know, black and Muslim — and therefore was ineligible for the presidency.
Were Trump still merely one of the business world's foremost
mountebanks, or a cheapjack TV star, the matter would be settled, and
unremarkable. There are many such people, and it's easy to turn your
back and ignore them.
But Donald Trump is a man of unequalled power. He can, and probably will, attack other countries. He occupies an office Americans hold in almost religious regard.
So each new lie, each putrid outburst, every carefully coded racist or sexist utterance, has to somehow be squared with the title he holds.
Put bluntly, the slight minority of Americans who voted for Trump are getting exactly what they asked for.
Surely to goodness some of them must be looking in the mirror and reflecting on the small part they played in unleashing tribal hatreds in their Shining City on the Hill.
They wanted a man who would courageously stand up and shout "radical Islamic terror," a term the pusillanimous establishment politicians tried to avoid, for fear of further encouraging religious hatred.
Well, they got him. And he shouted that phrase to the heavens. But when a clean-cut young racist, one of those people who complain that America's "white European" (read: Christian) heritage is threatened, murderously aimed his powerful car at a crowd, seeking to advance a political agenda, precisely as the "radical Islamic terrorists" have been doing lately in Europe, what did Trump have to say?
Asked if it was terrorism, he oozed this reply: "You can call it terrorism. You can call it murder. You can call it whatever you want. … Is it murder? Is it terrorism? Then you get into legal semantics."
Uh-huh. By Trump's method of crudely defining and categorizing people, it was radical Christian terror, or at least radical terror by a man raised in a Christian family. But of course that cannot exist, because no real Christian would do such a thing.
Trump then returned to his original reaction: that there was
plenty of blame to go around for what happened in Charlottesville over
the weekend, when hundreds of neo-Nazis, angry people "of European
descent" and garden-variety racists marched into the university town
yelling about Jews and the need to maintain white ascendancy.
Trump, to the utter astonishment of decent-minded Americans, actually conflated this herd of swine with the protesters who met them. It was an exercise in moral equivalence, a semantic trick conservatives despise when the left uses it.
It reminded me of the oily pronouncements Yasser Arafat and his satraps used to issue whenever a nail-packed bomb would erupt in a Tel Aviv discotheque or a Jerusalem pizzeria, leaving the corpses and body parts of children and teens strewn knee-deep on the street.
We denounce all violence of all kinds by all sides, they would say.
Or: We do not condone it, but we understand it.
(Israeli authorities used more or less the same language after some atrocity by extremist settlers or soldiers).
How many times can you ask and answer the same questions? Is he a hypocrite? Does he lie?
He is, and he does. Hypocrisy oozes from him like pus from a septic infection.
And what were once silly mendacities about crowd sizes or being secretly bugged by Barack Obama have now become uglier, more seditious things, reminiscent of his racist lie about the Obama family's secret conspiracy to conceal the fact that their son was born abroad — somewhere, you know, black and Muslim — and therefore was ineligible for the presidency.
Trump said there was plenty of blame to go
around for what happened in Charlottesville over the weekend. (Jonathan
Ernst/Reuters)
But Donald Trump is a man of unequalled power. He can, and probably will, attack other countries. He occupies an office Americans hold in almost religious regard.
So each new lie, each putrid outburst, every carefully coded racist or sexist utterance, has to somehow be squared with the title he holds.
Put bluntly, the slight minority of Americans who voted for Trump are getting exactly what they asked for.
Surely to goodness some of them must be looking in the mirror and reflecting on the small part they played in unleashing tribal hatreds in their Shining City on the Hill.
- Trump says 'alt-left' also to blame for Charlottesville violence
- There is no moral equivalency when it comes to neo-Nazi white supremacy: Opinion
They wanted a man who would courageously stand up and shout "radical Islamic terror," a term the pusillanimous establishment politicians tried to avoid, for fear of further encouraging religious hatred.
Well, they got him. And he shouted that phrase to the heavens. But when a clean-cut young racist, one of those people who complain that America's "white European" (read: Christian) heritage is threatened, murderously aimed his powerful car at a crowd, seeking to advance a political agenda, precisely as the "radical Islamic terrorists" have been doing lately in Europe, what did Trump have to say?
Asked if it was terrorism, he oozed this reply: "You can call it terrorism. You can call it murder. You can call it whatever you want. … Is it murder? Is it terrorism? Then you get into legal semantics."
Uh-huh. By Trump's method of crudely defining and categorizing people, it was radical Christian terror, or at least radical terror by a man raised in a Christian family. But of course that cannot exist, because no real Christian would do such a thing.
The white supremacists and neo-Nazis,
according to Trump, were attacked by the "very, very violent" members of
what he called the "alt-left." (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
Trump, to the utter astonishment of decent-minded Americans, actually conflated this herd of swine with the protesters who met them. It was an exercise in moral equivalence, a semantic trick conservatives despise when the left uses it.
It reminded me of the oily pronouncements Yasser Arafat and his satraps used to issue whenever a nail-packed bomb would erupt in a Tel Aviv discotheque or a Jerusalem pizzeria, leaving the corpses and body parts of children and teens strewn knee-deep on the street.
We denounce all violence of all kinds by all sides, they would say.
Or: We do not condone it, but we understand it.
(Israeli authorities used more or less the same language after some atrocity by extremist settlers or soldiers).
It was meant to be clever, and reassuring to their base, but to anyone with a shred of decency, it stank of incitement.
Trump's weekend reaction to Charlottesville was no different.
True, his advisers persuaded him later to issue an anodyne denunciation
of the white supremacists who adore him so deeply (many in
Charlottesville wore his demagogue-y "Make America Great Again" cap),
but he quickly and angrily returned to moral equivalence by Tuesday.
The white supremacists and neo-Nazis, according to Trump, were attacked by the "very, very violent" members of what he called the "alt-left," who, he said, arrived "swinging clubs," intent on criminal mayhem.
Well. It is true the so-called Antifa movement does not follow the teachings of Gandhi, or Martin Luther King, counting on meekness and absorption of violence, or pacifism, to defeat violence. Some of them push back, hard.
But Antifa tactics fall far short of driving a car into a crowd, and they don't show up with assault rifles on their backs and bandoliers of ammo (although they might consider it, just for self-preservation, because sooner or later some of those heavily armed far-right "militia" types will open fire in the name of white European-heritage rights).
Trump also questioned why Charlottesville would want to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who led the fight to preserve slavery.
Who will be next, Trump asked? Jefferson? Washington?
That was actually a good question. Both of those former
presidents owned slaves. Jefferson sired a child on one, which had to
qualify as rape, given a slave's inability to form proper consent.
But expunging history, as some on the left demand, is impossible. The correct path is to let its artifacts stand and serve as reminders. Auschwitz, for example, has not been bulldozed.
Recently, the New Yorker ran an analysis piece suggesting that Americans are so divided and filled with loathing for each other that a civil conflict is probably inevitable.
I tend to agree. And if that does happen, it will without question have been egged on by the current president.
Prominent members of his own party – House Speaker Paul Ryan, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Lindsey Graham, along with a slew of lesser-known Republicans – are turning from him in disgust over the Charlottesville episode.
Trump either ignores them, or issues threats and insults.
Deeply conservative writers like Charles Krauthammer call him a disgrace to the office. Trump yells, "fake news!"
The captains of industry on two of his business advisory councils distanced themselves, so Trump, after lashing out at a few of them, shrugged and disbanded the councils.
Soon enough, he will be alone, surrounded only by his admiring fellow racists. But he will still be governing from the Oval Office.
It bears repeating. Americans got what they asked for. And it oozes.
Prominent members of Trump's own party are
turning from him in disgust over the Charlottesville episode. (Joshua
Roberts/Reuters)
The white supremacists and neo-Nazis, according to Trump, were attacked by the "very, very violent" members of what he called the "alt-left," who, he said, arrived "swinging clubs," intent on criminal mayhem.
Well. It is true the so-called Antifa movement does not follow the teachings of Gandhi, or Martin Luther King, counting on meekness and absorption of violence, or pacifism, to defeat violence. Some of them push back, hard.
But Antifa tactics fall far short of driving a car into a crowd, and they don't show up with assault rifles on their backs and bandoliers of ammo (although they might consider it, just for self-preservation, because sooner or later some of those heavily armed far-right "militia" types will open fire in the name of white European-heritage rights).
Trump also questioned why Charlottesville would want to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who led the fight to preserve slavery.
Who will be next, Trump asked? Jefferson? Washington?
Trump calls out ‘alt-left’ for Charlottesville violence3:06
But expunging history, as some on the left demand, is impossible. The correct path is to let its artifacts stand and serve as reminders. Auschwitz, for example, has not been bulldozed.
Recently, the New Yorker ran an analysis piece suggesting that Americans are so divided and filled with loathing for each other that a civil conflict is probably inevitable.
I tend to agree. And if that does happen, it will without question have been egged on by the current president.
Prominent members of his own party – House Speaker Paul Ryan, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Lindsey Graham, along with a slew of lesser-known Republicans – are turning from him in disgust over the Charlottesville episode.
Trump either ignores them, or issues threats and insults.
Deeply conservative writers like Charles Krauthammer call him a disgrace to the office. Trump yells, "fake news!"
The captains of industry on two of his business advisory councils distanced themselves, so Trump, after lashing out at a few of them, shrugged and disbanded the councils.
Soon enough, he will be alone, surrounded only by his admiring fellow racists. But he will still be governing from the Oval Office.
It bears repeating. Americans got what they asked for. And it oozes.
Trump defends 'history and culture' of Confederate monuments
Descendants of Stonewall Jackson say statue in Richmond, Va., must go
CBC News Posted: Aug 17, 2017 7:35 AM ET
U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions about his
response to the violence at the Charlottesville, Va., rally as he talks
to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City on Tuesday.
(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Confederate statues are "overt symbols of racism and white supremacy, and the time is long overdue for them to depart from public display," wrote Jack and Warren Christian, descendants of Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson, in an open letter to officials in Richmond, Va.
'We are ashamed of the monument.' – Jack and Warren Christian
The letter, which was published late Wednesday by Slate, lauds some of Jackson's behaviour while condemning his ownership of slaves and his decision to fight for the South.
"While we are not ashamed of our great-great-grandfather, we are ashamed to benefit from white supremacy while our black family and friends suffer. We are ashamed of the monument," the Christians wrote.
An equestrian statue of Jackson is one of several memorials to the Confederacy that line Richmond's Monument Avenue. They have been the subject of debate among city officials, according to local media, after a deadly clash between protesters over the planned removal of a similar monument in Charlottesville, Va. Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy for most of the the four-year Civil War.
'You can't change history.' — Donald Trump
Confederate monuments have been torn down, dismantled and covered up this week in Baltimore, Md., Birmingham, Ala., and Durham, N.C. Similar efforts are underway in Lexington, Ky., Memphis, Tenn., and Jacksonville, Fla.
In a series of tweets early Thursday, Trump lamented the loss of "beauty."
"You can't change history but you can learn from it," Trump said via Twitter.
"The beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed."
Trump also suggested that the removal of statues commemorating Jackson and fellow Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee could lead to similar moves against memorials for U.S. founding fathers such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Trump made a similar comparison during a news conference earlier this week when, in a combative exchange with reporters, he suggested there was scant difference between Washington and Jefferson, who both owned slaves, and the leaders of the Confederacy, which went to war with the rest of the U.S. in the 1860s in a bid to preserve slavery.
Trump also suggested during that news conference that counter-protesters and white hate groups at the rally were equally responsible for the violence that left one woman dead, earning rebukes from across the political spectrum.
- PHOTOS | The heated politics of public monuments
- ANALYSIS | No one should be surprised at Trump's thoughts about Charlottesville: Keith Boag
Among his critics was Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, who suggested Trump had drawn a "moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members" who attended the rally, and others opposed to such groups.
Trump called Graham's statement "a disgusting lie" and went on to accuse unspecified "fake news" of misrepresenting his comments about hate and bigotry.
Trump's remarks following the violence in Charlottesville have rocked his administration, leading to rising speculation that some top officials may be looking for a way out.
Descendants of Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson say
this statue of the Confederate general on Monument Avenue in Richmond,
Va., should be removed. (Google)
"The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the ability or the competence that he needs to be successful," said Corker, who Trump had considered for the job of secretary of state. Corker said Trump needed to make "radical changes."
Sen. Dan Sullivan, another Republican, added on Twitter, "Anything less than complete & unambiguous condemnation of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK by (Trump) is unacceptable. Period."
A parade of business executives broke ties with Trump on Wednesday after he blamed white nationalists and counter-protesters in equal measure for the weekend clashes in Virginia.
Now, frustrated aides could be next. Trump's remarks have left some wondering if sticking by the president comes at too high a cost to their reputations.
"A lot of us joined this administration thinking we could bring to it the experience and expertise that the president didn't have an opportunity to gain in his business career, and to encourage some restraint in what he says publicly and to our allies," said one senior official who is contemplating whether to resign.
"After yesterday, it's clear that there is no way for anyone, even a marine general, to restrain [Trump's] impulses or counter what he sees on TV and reads on the web."
It was hoped that retired general John Kelly, Trump's new chief of staff, could impose some form of discipline on Trump that his predecessor, Reince Priebus, could not.
But Kelly stood with his eyes fixed on the floor when Trump veered off script at his Manhattan office tower on Tuesday.
City workers in Baltimore, Md., removed a
monument to both Jackson and fellow Confederate Robert E. Lee overnight
on Wednesday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Steve Bannon leaves Trump's White House by 'mutual agreement'
Prior to joining administration, Bannon helped found influential Breitbart News site
CBC News Posted: Aug 18, 2017 1:06 PM ET
White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is shown at the
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md.,
on Feb. 23. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
Bannon, 63, had been a key adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump's general election campaign and a forceful but contentious presence in a divided White House.
"White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve's last day," White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said in a statement. "We are grateful for his service and wish him the best."
The statement came out shortly after The Associated Press and New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources, that his departure was imminent.
It wasn't immediately clear if Bannon resigned or was fired. The New York Times had reported that Bannon gave a letter of resignation earlier this month, but numerous media reports state he was fired or pushed out.
Citing an anonymous source, the Washington Post reported Bannon's departure was solely Kelly's decision.
- Bannon talks 'economic war' in China in rare interview
- ANALYSIS l Chief of staff Kelly has more to do after Scaramucci exit
The former leader of conservative Breitbart News has pushed Trump to follow through with his campaign promises. But he's also sparred with some of Trump's closest advisers, sources have told The Associated Press, including son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The Associated Press has reported that Steve
Bannon, left, and Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, right,
clashed as they sought influence over the president. (Kevin
Lamarque/Reuters)
The president refused to give a vote of confidence during his freewheeling news conference Tuesday.
"He's a good person. He actually gets very unfair press in that
regard," Trump said. "But we'll see what happens with Mr. Bannon."
Bannon was viewed by many as Trump's connection to his base of
most-committed voters and the protector of the disruptive, conservative
agenda that propelled the celebrity businessman to the White House.
"It's a tough pill to swallow if Steve is gone, because you have a Republican West Wing that's filled with generals and Democrats," said former campaign strategist Sam Nunberg, shortly before the news of Bannon's departure broke. "It would feel like the twilight zone."
Breitbart News says Bannon has returned to the website, back as its executive chairman. Bannon left Breitbart just a little over a year ago to join Trump's presidential campaign.
From Breitbart, there was a dramatic one-word warning.
"#WAR," tweeted Joel B. Pollak, a senior editor at large at the news site.
In his first public remarks after his exit, Bannon said he still backed Trump.
"I'm leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents, on Capitol Hill, in the media and in corporate America," Bannon told Bloomberg News.
According to the Times, Bannon offered his resignation on Aug. 7. He sounded off earlier this week in an interview with American Prospect magazine, stating that there was no military solution in North Korea, in contrast to declarations of Trump and Defence Secretary James Mattis.
He also said the U.S. is losing an economic war with China, an issue not getting enough attention in the administration. "If we continue to lose it, we're five years away, I think, 10 years at the most, of hitting an inflection point from which we'll never be able to recover."
After serving in the navy, Bannon earned an MBA at Harvard and worked in investment banking. He helped back movies and television shows, his involvement in the sale of Castle Rock Entertainment earning him a stake in the syndication of Seinfeld and other shows.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Bannon wrote and produced documentaries based on his belief the West was engaged in a clash of civilizations with radical Islam.
While hosting Trump on his Sirius XM radio show in 2015, he also
lamented the presence of foreign-born tech professionals in California.
"When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think … a country is more than an economy. We're a civic society," said Bannon.
Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi welcomed the move, but said that Trump's "repulsive policies" are the biggest problem in the White House.
Bannon becomes the latest departure amid a number of resignations and firings in the first seven months of the Trump administration. They include:
"It's a tough pill to swallow if Steve is gone, because you have a Republican West Wing that's filled with generals and Democrats," said former campaign strategist Sam Nunberg, shortly before the news of Bannon's departure broke. "It would feel like the twilight zone."
Breitbart News says Bannon has returned to the website, back as its executive chairman. Bannon left Breitbart just a little over a year ago to join Trump's presidential campaign.
From Breitbart, there was a dramatic one-word warning.
"#WAR," tweeted Joel B. Pollak, a senior editor at large at the news site.
In his first public remarks after his exit, Bannon said he still backed Trump.
"I'm leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents, on Capitol Hill, in the media and in corporate America," Bannon told Bloomberg News.
Critical interview
According to the Times, Bannon offered his resignation on Aug. 7. He sounded off earlier this week in an interview with American Prospect magazine, stating that there was no military solution in North Korea, in contrast to declarations of Trump and Defence Secretary James Mattis.
He also said the U.S. is losing an economic war with China, an issue not getting enough attention in the administration. "If we continue to lose it, we're five years away, I think, 10 years at the most, of hitting an inflection point from which we'll never be able to recover."
After serving in the navy, Bannon earned an MBA at Harvard and worked in investment banking. He helped back movies and television shows, his involvement in the sale of Castle Rock Entertainment earning him a stake in the syndication of Seinfeld and other shows.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Bannon wrote and produced documentaries based on his belief the West was engaged in a clash of civilizations with radical Islam.
Bannon is shown with then White House chief
of staff Reince Priebus on March 17. Both are among a number of
high-profile departures in the first seven months of the Trump
administration. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)
"When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think … a country is more than an economy. We're a civic society," said Bannon.
Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi welcomed the move, but said that Trump's "repulsive policies" are the biggest problem in the White House.
Bannon becomes the latest departure amid a number of resignations and firings in the first seven months of the Trump administration. They include:
- Sally Yates, acting attorney general.
- Michael Flynn, national security adviser.
- James Comey, FBI director.
- Mike Dubke, communications director.
- Sean Spicer, press secretary.
- Reince Priebus, chief of staff.
- Anthony Scaramucci, communications director.
- Josh Pitcock, vice-president's chief of staff.
- Walter Shaub, head of the government ethics office.
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